"Planning to Minimize Damage to Buildings Adjacent to Construction Sites in Urban Environments," Milan Vatovec, Paul Kelley, Michael Brainerd, and Charles Russo, STRUCTURE magazine
Common issues associated with urban development can be political, commercial, and technical in nature. Urban communities have multiple interests - historic preservation, traffic control, and vehicular and pedestrian access. Developers are often faced with significant cost restraints, especially when expanding into adjacent properties, so construction alternatives are selected by balancing risk and costs. Adjacent neighbors are concerned with property damage, disruption of access, disruption to operation (noise, dust, vibration), and safety. Design team members must manage expectations of owners and neighbors. Their role, which includes determining the reasonable construction methodology and evaluation of loads and margins of safety, is extremely difficult in urban environments. Due to unpredictable existing conditions, tight boundaries, and the relative imprecision of construction tolerances in underground work, the designer's risk exposure often is not commensurate with their level of control and compensation.